he NCAA selection committee may not be watching right now, but if the Massachusetts men's basketball team can come out of Louisville or Kentucky with a win, it just may turn some heads come March.

UMass (8-2) gets another opportunity to take advantage of its high-powered non-conference schedule this evening, as it takes on Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals at 7 p.m. The Minutemen head to Kentucky (6-3) on Dec. 22 to take on the Wildcats after that, ending their longest road trip of the season at four games.

The Minutemen are coming of a 79-66 win over Central Connecticut State on Saturday night and have won their last two contests.

Louisville (5-2) comes into tonight's game riding a three-game winning streak, defeating Ohio, Saint Joseph's, and Bellarmine. The Cardinals suffered one of their two losses to Dayton, 68-64 back on Nov. 24.

UMass can't afford to give up the big play on Wednesday if it looks to have the same success as its Atlantic 10 foe.

"We have to keep them out of transition," UMass coach Travis Ford said on the strategy against the Cardinals. "We don't want to slow the game down, but we have to make sure that we get back and not give them what we call, the spectacular play. They like to dunk, they like to make the big three, and that gets them going.

"They really get out in transition, and they're very fast," Ford added about Louisville. "They're very aggressive offensively. They'll drive it, they'll shoot three-pointers relentlessly. They may miss 20 in a row, but they're going to come right back down and they're going to shoot the 21st."

Tonight marks just the second time UMass plays at Freedom Hall. The last time the two teams met in the arena that holds approximately 19,000 people (March 2, 1996), the Minutemen won 62-59. UMass was No. 2 in the nation at that time, and this season marks the best start for the Maroon and White since that year.

Both UMass and Louisville are different teams since the last time they played, which was in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 1997. The Cardinals sent the Minutemen home with a 65-57 win in that meeting.

Louisville is led by sophomore guard Andre McGee. McGee leads the Cardinals in scoring with 16 points per game, and shoots a team-high 56 percent from the field and 60 percent from the three-point line. Louisville relies on junior forward Juan Palacios and sophomore forward Terrence Williams to grab rebounds, who both average eight boards per game.

"They're a typical coach Pitino team," Ford said. "Right now, the only thing that's holding them back is just youth, and learning to play. I don't think they have one great basketball player. They have a bunch of very good basketball players.

"They've got a good, young basketball team combined with some veterans that have been in his [coach Pitino's] system, which I think is going to be key for this Louisville basketball team."

Pitino and Ford know a thing or two about each other. Ford played under Pitino at Kentucky in the early '90s, and admits, it wasn't a walk in the park.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever done," Ford said on playing under Pitino at Kentucky. "It's the most challenging thing you could ever go through, but it was the most fun I ever had. He made basketball fun. He was hard on you, but he knew what he was talking about.

"I've played for a lot of different coaches, and some coaches are just great x and o guys, but they can't motivate you," Ford said. "And then I played for guys who could really motivate you, but didn't spend a whole lot of time on the x and o's. Coach Pitino can do both."

Ford takes the Minutemen to that very school where Pitino coached him just nine days later, as the Kentucky Wildcats host UMass on Dec. 22 in Lexington. The Wildcats got off to a strong start, but were knocked out of the Top 25 after losses to UCLA, Memphis, and North Carolina.

Tubby Smith's Wildcats are led by 6-foot-11 center Randolph Morris. Morris leads the team in scoring with 17 points per game and eight rebounds per game.

The game against Kentucky is the first game during winter break. Until then, UMass plays two more non-conference games against Yale and Miami (at the Mullins Center), and begins A-10 play on Jan. 6 in Philadelphia against La Salle.

The next four games before the second semester begins will be against George Washington, Temple, Xavier, and Duquesne. The game against Xavier is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN2 on Jan. 18.

OUISVILLE, Ky. - Travis Ford will face his mentor Rick Pitino, who squares off against his alma mater, when the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team plays at Louisville tonight.

Ford, a former player under Pitino at the University of Kentucky, is two hours from his hometown of Madisonville, Ky. Ford said he always has been one of the few people who likes and roots for both the Cardinals and Wildcats. But right now he's just rooting for the Minutemen.

"I've played against coach Pitino several times. I'm not getting caught up in that at all," Ford said. "This game needs to make our team better. We need to play better basketball, This game will test us to see where we're at. We go in believing we can win and hoping we can win."

The game is at 7 p.m. in Freedom Hall. It's the fourth time Ford has faced Pitino. The first three were losses while Ford coached at Eastern Kentucky.

Louisville is the third school that Pitino, a 1974 UMass alumnus, has led against his alma mater. His Boston University teams were 5-0 against the Minutemen, while he was 4-1 with Kentucky, including a win over UMass in the 1996 Final Four.

The Minutemen arrive at 8-2, their best start since their only win over Kentucky kicked off a 26-0 start in 1995-96. UMass has won the eight games it was expected to win this season and lost to its two big-name opponents, Pittsburgh and Boston College.

"There's something to be said for doing what you're supposed to do because in today's environment in college basketball it's so hard to do that," Ford said. "We have won the games that we're supposed to and the two games we lost are the types of games we want to start winning."

The Cardinals (5-2) have a similar track record this year. Like the Minutemen, all of their wins have come against teams they were supposed to beat - Northwestern State, Sacramento State, Ohio, Saint Joseph's and Division II Bellarmine. They were upset by Dayton 68-64, and lost to No. 10 Arizona 72-65.

After the 76-64 win over Bellarmine Sunday, Pitino said his team had to play better to beat the Minutemen.

"If we just play good, we'll lose to UMass," Pitino said in the postgame press conference. "We'll have to play great. You guys have a tendency to not believe me, but let me tell you, if we play the next two games the way we played the last three, we have no chance. Zero."

Junior forward Juan Palacios leads Louisville with 13.3 points and eight rebounds per game. Freshman guard Edgar Sosa has started strong with 12.7 points per game. Louisville could welcome back sophomore point guard Andre McGee, who has been out with cartilage damage in his right knee since scoring 16 points in the Cardinals' opener against Northwestern State.

The wild card for the Cardinals is freshman big man Derrick Caracter, who is an intimidating presence at 6-foot-9 and 275 pounds. He missed Louisville's first three games but has shown progress in the last four games, averaging seven points and six rebounds. Another big man, Kansas transfer David Padgett, sat out Sunday with sore knees but is expected to play against UMass.

"It's a tough team to prepare for because they play so many people," Ford said. "They may play a guy 20 minutes one game and he might not get in the next game. They have a lot of ifs going into this game as far as personnel is concerned. But they're going to play extremely hard, extremely fast and extremely aggressive."

NOTES: Over 100 of Ford's relatives and friends are expected to be in attendance.

The game is the fourth annual Billy Minardi Classic, which was created to honor Pitino's brother-in-law who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

In addition to WRNX (100.9 FM), the game will be broadcast on SIRIUS satellite radio channel 161. It will be televised on NESN.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage including a frequently updated UMass sports blog, go to www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/umsports.

OUISVILLE — Since Travis Ford has moved up on the coaching ladder, going from Eastern Kentucky to Massachusetts, Louisville Coach Rick Pitino figures Ford's priorities and motives have changed.

When Ford scheduled games for EKU against UofL and Kentucky, he was seeing dollar signs. Now he's seeing victories. Forget the homecoming or any guarantees, Pitino thinks Ford booked the Cards and Cats on the road the next 10 days because his team is good enough that he sees a realistic chance for a couple of upsets.

First, Ford, a native of Madisonville, and a starting point guard for Pitino at UK in 1993 and '94, will bring the Minutemen (8-2) to Freedom Hall for a 7 o'clock game Wednesday night against the Cardinals (5-2) in the fourth annual Billy Minardi Classic. UMass will play UK Dec. 22 in Rupp Arena.

"I didn't have a dummy as my point guard," Pitino said. "Travis Ford isn't bringing his team here and to Kentucky just for a trip home. Travis, at Eastern Kentucky, would play Louisville and Kentucky to get a guarantee to help his program from an economic standpoint. He's now playing Louisville and Kentucky because he thinks he can win.

"And he can. UMass is a great team, not a good team with great talent. This will be a big, big test for us."

Ford told the Springfield (Mass.) Republican that he's not uptight about matching wits with his former coach, whom he credited as his mentor and a huge influence on his life when he took the UMass job two years ago.

"I've never been nervous as a player or as a coach," Ford said. "We don't have to make this a big deal. It's a big deal on its own. I'm very excited and very proud. I know his tendencies. He knows what I'll do and I know what he'll do, but his offense has changed dramatically since I played for him."

Pitino, who owns a 3-0 record against his former player, said Ford's UMass team is built tough, just as he was as player.

After transferring from Missouri, Ford played three years at UK. As a junior, he averaged 13.6 points and 4.8 assists and became the first player in UK history to make more than 100 three-pointers in a season. His 101 treys still stands as a school record. As a senior he averaged 11.3 points and 5.8 assists, and the Wildcats were 57-11 during his two years as a starter, advancing to the Final Four in 1993.

"Initially, Travis wanted to be an actor," Pitino said. "It surprised me he wanted to be an actor, but it didn't surprise me he wanted to be a coach. He was a coach on the floor. He really understood the game, he was fiery, very intense, a great competitor. So it's no surprise to me that he's a terrific coach."

Although Pitino is a UMass graduate and his opinion is highly-valued throughout college basketball circles, he said he had nothing to do with Ford getting the UMass job.

"The only role I played (in his getting the job) was I coached him in college, that's it," Pitino said. "I did not talk to (UMass). I talked to them afterwards when I gave them a donation. Nothing to do with Travis."

UMass, which was a pre-season pick to challenge Xavier for the Atlantic 10 championship, is off to its best start since the 1995-96 Final Four season, but has no quality wins, having beaten such teams at Dartmouth, Jacksonville State and Savannah State. The Minutemen's losses came at No. 4 Pittsburgh (85-68) and at home against Boston College (84-73).

UMass is shooting nearly 50 percent from the field and three of its four leading scorers are all shooting better than 55 percent — 6-9 center Rashaun Freeman (68.2), 6-8 senior forward Stephane Lasme (66.7) and 6-6 junior guard James Life (55.6). Life is also shooting 50 percent from three-point range (25-51). Lasme posted the second triple-double in UMass history with 19 points, 10 rebounds and a school-record 11 blocked shots in a 63-49 win over St. Francis (N.Y.).

"UMass is a very gifted basketball team and would compete very well in the Big East," Pitino said. "This is another great game for us to get ready for the Big East. UMass has great size, outstanding talent, they're very athletic, very physical and very quick. And Life is one of the best shooters in the country."

As for Louisville, the Cards are coming off three unimpressive victories in the NABC Classic — over Ohio University (74-71), St. Joseph's (74-64) and Division II Bellarmine (76-64). In the latter game, the Cards hit only 52 percent of their free throws (14-27), but that was probably an aberration because prior to that they were shooting a respectable 74 percent from the foul line.

On the heels of UMass, UofL will host Kentucky Saturday, and Pitino said the Cards will need two efforts similar to their performance against then-No. 14 Arizona in a 72-65 loss in Madison Square Garden on Dec. 5 in order to survive.

"If we play the same way we played against Arizona, we can beat anyone on our schedule," Pitino said. "But we'll have to play two great games to come away with victories. If we don't play the same type of game we played against Arizona, we can't beat either team."

"We didn't play as well as we wanted to in these last three games," UofL center David Padgett said. "But everybody knows these next two games are huge against two really good teams. If we improve the way we want to and we're ready the way we need to be, we should be OK."

Padgett played only 10 minutes in the last two games to rest his knees and he said he should be fine for UMass. Meanwhile, Pitino said Sunday night that he wasn't sure when sophomore point guard Andre McGee could return, but he said Tuesday that McGee could possibly play against UMass.

McGee underwent surgery to repair cartilage in his right knee on Nov. 21 and has missed the last six games after scoring 16 points in UofL's opening 100-87 win over Northwestern State. McGee, who started jogging and shooting last week, returned to practice Tuesday afternoon.

"He's just done some shooting and dribbling with the trainer, so we'll see," Pitino said. "If he does well today, he'll play some tomorrow."

McGee called it a "day-to-day thing," adding, "I need to keep running on it and shoot jumpers and make sure the swelling doesn't get too much. I don't want to push it and take a chance on making it worse."

The Billy Minardi Classic is designed to honor the memory of Pitino's brother-in-law, who died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001.

"Travis knew Billy really well and that's why we earmarked this game as the Billy Minardi Classic," Pitino said. "Billy was at so many (UK) practices and I would say he caught 80 percent of UK's games. He would hate them today, but he loved them back then. We're very excited to remember 9/11. We have quite a few people coming in from New York for this. It's a family event for my family and we're honoring the victims of 9/11 by playing this game."

ravis Ford will be spending a lot of time in his home state in the next 10 days, but it isn't a holiday homecoming tour.

The second-year Massachusetts coach will bring his team to Freedom Hall to play the University of Louisville at 7 tonight in the Billy Minardi Classic. The Minutemen's next game will be in Rupp Arena against Ford's alma mater, the University of Kentucky.

"I don't know if you ever go to Louisville and Kentucky with a basketball team and call it fun," Ford said. "It's great to see friends and things like that, but we've got a lot of work to do. This is definitely a business trip."

Ford's job one is to rebuild UMass into an Atlantic 10 power and beyond. A program that rose to national prominence under John Calipari slipped off the radar under Bruiser Flint and Steve Lappas to the point where its own students and fans stayed away.

Ford, who took Eastern Kentucky University from the Ohio Valley Conference cellar to the 2005 NCAA Tournament, immediately set about shoring up that support upon his arrival in Amherst.

"I hit the state from one end to the other," he said. "I think I talked to every big group and every small group. We did everything possible to sell this program and reconnect with fans."

Of course, nothing does that like winning, and the Minutemen (8-2) are starting to accomplish that after going 13-15 last season. They have played only three home games so far, but their Dec. 2 contest against Boston College attracted the first Mullins Center sellout since 2001.

Massachusetts lost that game by 11 points and was beaten soundly by Pittsburgh in its only other matchup with a major conference team. But Louisville coach Rick Pitino said the Minutemen are a dangerous bunch.

"They're a very gifted basketball team, and they would compete very well in the Big East," Pitino said.

They also are strongest inside, which has one of the weakest areas defensively for the Cardinals (5-2). Big men such as Arizona's Ivan Radenovic (22 points, 13 rebounds), Ohio's Jerome Tillman (18 points, 13 rebounds) and Saint Joseph's Ahmad Nivins (26 points, eight rebounds) have had big days against U of L this season.

UMass is led by Rashaun Freeman, a 6-foot-9 senior who's averaging 17.9 points a game. Senior forward Stephane Lasme is scoring 13 points a game and averaging 4.3 blocked shots.

Pitino said the Cards have concentrated on stopping the three-pointer while trying to guard opposing centers one-on-one.

"We have not done a very good job playing good one-on-one defense in the post, and we haven't improved on it," he said.

They can't collapse too much inside against UMass, because junior guard James Life is making nearly half his three-point attempts (25 of 51). The Minutemen are shooting 49.9 percent from the field.

In that sense, they have taken on the personality of their coach, a sharpshooting point guard who played for Pitino at UK in 1991-94. The son of a coach from Madisonville, Ky., Ford seemed destined to move to the bench after his playing days ended.

"Initially, Travis wanted to be an actor, and that surprised me," Pitino said. "But it didn't surprise me he wanted to be a coach. He was a coach on the floor, he really understood the game, he was fiery, very intense and a great competitor. So it's no surprise to me that he's a terrific coach."

Pitino insisted yesterday that he played no role in Ford getting the job at Massachusetts, which is Pitino's alma mater. But Ford said he consulted his former coach immediately after the school contacted him in March 2005.

"I don't make many basketball decisions without his opinion," Ford said. "He was definitely the first person I called to talk about it. He told me how much he loved the school, and he gave me all the pros and cons about the job."

Pitino called back this off-season when he was looking to line up an opponent for the fourth annual Billy Minardi Classic. The event honors the memory of Pitino's brother-in-law who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Minardi followed UK basketball closely during Pitino's time there, and Ford became good friends with him.

"When he asked me to play in this game, I said, 'Absolutely, yes, no matter what,' " Ford said. "I really, really enjoyed being around Mr. Minardi, and we all know what he meant to Coach Pitino. It's really an honor to play in this event."

Ford brought three of his EKU teams into Louisville to play against Pitino, losing all three times.

"They always whipped us pretty good," he said, "but it's good because you learn a lot about yourself. We need to use these games to get ready for February and hopefully March."

But Pitino said Ford's homecoming tour might not be fun for the hosts this time.

"At Eastern Kentucky, Travis would play Louisville and Kentucky to help his program from an economic standpoint," Pitino said. "He's now playing Louisville and Kentucky because he thinks he can beat them. And he can."

Massachusetts (9-2) led 41-26 at halftime despite not making a field goal for the last 6:23 of the half, and Louisville (5-3) held the Minutemen scoreless for almost five minutes at the start of the second half.

The Cardinals began the second half with five straight points to pull to 41-31.

Then Louisville went on a 10-2 run led by Terrence Williams' eight consecutive points to trim the lead to 47-41 with 10:34 to play. Louisville continued to chip away, tying the game at 53 with about 4 1/2 minutes to go.

But the Minutemen took charge, scoring the next eight points over two minutes.

Williams, the only other player in the game to score in double figures, also had 21 points, all in the second half.

Louisville trailed by as much as 17 points in the first half. The Cardinals' only lead of the game came after a layup by freshman swingman Earl Clark made it 9-8 with about 16 minutes in the half.

Freeman's bucket gave the lead back to Massachusetts and ignited a 13-point run that ended with a pair of free throws by Stephane Lasme, giving the Minutemen a 21-9 lead five minutes later. Freeman scored seven of Massachusetts' first 13 points.

Massachusetts held Louisville to 23 percent field-goal shooting and outrebounded the Cardinals 21-15 in the first half.

Louisville point guard Andre McGee played for the first time since having surgery Nov. 21 to repair torn cartilage in his knee. He played 11 minutes.

"Give them great credit. They came in there and it helped that they had played Pitt well on the road. They outran us down the court due to our poor shot selection. We got behind, we fought back and it was a valiant effort. But then we made some bad decisions and errors and bad offensive handling of the basketball. You have to give them credit. They are a veteran ball club. They did a lot of great things and their inside people are strong. They are a terrific team and we knew they were. We need better shot selection. Some of our players don't understand what they do best."

"They ran their favorite play and we knew what it was and unfortunately we had a lapse and they got a layup on it. That is their favorite play - a downscreen and a screen across. We defended it well all night and then we couldn't defend it well on that specific instance."

(On difference in 2nd half) "I think good shot selection. We took bad shots in the first half. They were seven for eight on the break due to our bad shots. Some of our players still don't understand who they are and what they are and what they do best. They have to figure it out in a hurry."

(On Terrence Williams in the second half) "Too late for T-Will. You've got to know who you are before the balls goes up. He played hard and he played like he should have played. But to me the lesson should have been learned last year. He is still a young ball player and he is going to get better."

"The big guys are dominating us inside even against Bellarmine, they are dominating us inside too much and that is hurting us."

(On getting away from the double team) "That is not true, but we didn't get to it early enough when they scored. You can't double team a guy if he catches the ball under the rim ... that is too late. He has to catch it on the block outside the lane that is when you double team. If you duck right around the rim, there is no double team in basketball."

(On second half) "I thought we just took good shots and good shots keep the other team out of transition and good shots allow you to play good defense. We took bad shots in the first half."

"I think we are young and will take some time to learn shot selection. It starts with pressure on the basketball and it has to do with moving your feet. The scouting report has been our No. 1 problem that we have been having. Also absorbing the scouting report and that is typical with a young team."

"When you are at home you are supposed to come back. You aren't supposed to fold at home. If we had come back on the road, I would have said that is a nice situation. You are supposed to win at home. UMass is better basketball team and were better at every phase of the game. They beat us down court and beat out on the glass and they made big shots. They were a terrible foul shooting team but they made some at the right time."

"I told Travis that I was proud of him and I knew he had a great team. I told him he had to shoot foul shots better. He has a good chance to win the Atlantic-10. He has good interior people and his guards looked good."

Massachusetts Head Coach Travis Ford
"I thing the difference in the game was the way we stared the game. We haven't shot like that all year long. We played our best basketball of the year long definitely in the first half, as a complete of a first half as probably one of my teams have played. Defensively, we were in every position we wanted to be. We made shots that we've worked on; trying to create shots for each other. That's what we tried to do and normally we don't make very many of them. Tonight we did."

(On the bench play) "It's interesting; we've not been getting anything from our bench, not much at all. Etienne Brower gave us great minutes. Ricky Harris came in as a freshman and gave us good minutes and making some three's. We needed that in front of this type crowd, it's going to take a lot out of you mentally and physically. We needed our bench we couldn't survive, we go into trouble in the first half when Rashaun Freeman got into foul trouble. Usually when they get into foul trouble, you can pretty much warm the bus up for us. The three point line is a strange thing and if you can shoot three's it can really help you and that's the only thing that helped us survive with those two guys out. We had line ups out there that we had never played. We had Brower and Gary Forbes in there at the four and five, and I've never even done that in practice. I didn't have a choice. We were just trying to move the ball, drive, kick, and shoot threes."

(On getting the win against Coach Pitino) "Oh, it really doesn't mean anything against Coach Pitino. It's good for our basketball team to try to get to where we are going. I didn't think we had been playing too well lately. We have a good basketball team, I've said that the other day when we didn't play very well at Austin. We haven`t really peaked yet, not that we want to peak, but we haven't really put it all together. It's good for our basketball team. This Louisville is going to be very good. They've got a lot of freshmen and injuries, everybody knows about that, but they're going to be very good."

(On Louisville playing Kentucky) "I'm not getting in the middle of that."

(On winning on the road against a BIG EAST opponent) "It's big for our basketball team, no question. It's something Coach Pitino taught me and we did it a couple of times, it's when you get a big lead, like we had, fifteen or whatever it was, and your one the road and you see the whole thing just deplete. A lot of teams can just wilt and we didn't wilt, so I think we gained a lot of character out of that. For us to be up fifteen and them come back and tie it with four minutes to go, we really could have given up. Coach Pitino has always said that's when great winning character is built when you can do that. I told our team I was very proud of that as much as anything that we were able to sustain losing a big lead and not just wilting. That's a lot said for this basketball team. We've got some good seniors; it's what you expect out of them. Everybody on our team scored, but one and that's unusual for us."

OUISVILLE, Ky. - With 4 minutes, 37 seconds remaining in Wednesday night's men's basketball game and both teams huddled at their benches in a time-out, the near-sellout crowd at was loud. Louisville had just erased the University of Massachusetts' 14-point lead and appeared poised to carry the momentum into a come-from-behind win.

In the Minuteman huddle, coach Travis Ford told his team that the game starts now and to go out and win the last 4:37.

They responded by scoring the next eight points and converting on 11 of their last 12 possessions to seize back momentum and lift UMass to a 72-68 win.

It was Ford's first win over Rick Pitino, who coached him as a player at Kentucky. Fittingly the win reminded Ford of something Pitino told him.

"A lot of teams just wilt and we didn't wilt," Ford said. "I think we gained a lot of character out of that. For us to be up 15 and they come back and tie it, we really could have given up. Coach Pitino has always said great winning character is built when you do that."

Out of the time-out, UMass went right to Rashaun Freeman to take back the lead. After Brandon Jenkins traveled, Chris Lowe scored driving to the basket. Freeman dunked on the break off a James Life steal to make it 59-53 with 3:17 left and the Cardinals called time-out.

Edgar Sosa missed a long jumper out of the stoppage and Stephane Lasme grabbed the rebound. The Minutemen got him the ball back at the other end and he converted, leaving the stunned crowd almost silent as its team trailed 61-53 with 2:35 left.

Louisville (5-3) never got within one possession the rest of the way as UMass (9-2) made enough free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.

"You have to give them credit," Pitino said. "They are a veteran ball club. They did a lot of great things and their inside people are strong. They are a terrific team and we knew they were."

The Minutemen get the next eight days off for finals before returning to Ford's home state to play Kentucky, his alma mater, at Rupp Arena Dec. 22.

Good ball movement and great shooting helped the Minutemen build a 41-26 first-half lead. They had 11 assists on 12 baskets and made 12 of 22 shots, including seven of 11 from 3-point range.

After trailing 9-8 four minutes into the game, Freeman led a 19-2 run that staggered the Cardinals early.

UMass lost Freeman and Lasme to foul trouble for much of the half. Juan Palacios, Louisville's best inside player, also had early foul woes. The Minutemen not only survived, but thrived as Ford juggled his lineup to work around six players with at least two fouls.

Freshman Ricky Harris led the Minutemen with eight points on two 3-pointers and two free throws.

"We haven't shot like that all year long," Ford said. "We played our best basketball in a long time in the first half. It was probably as complete a half as one of my teams have played."

The hot shooting that led to UMass' sizable early lead deserted the Minutemen in the second. They led 45-31 with 15:08 remaining, but Terrence Williams scored eight points in a 10-2 run that sliced the edge to 47-41 and brought the crowd back to life.

Another 10-2 spurt tied the game at 53-53 before the Minutemen bounced back to deliver the knockout blow.

Pitino praised his former player after the game.

"I told Travis that I was proud of him and I knew he had a great team," Pitino said of their postgame handshake. "He has a good chance to win the Atlantic 10."

Freeman and Williams were the only players in the game in double figures. They each had 21 points.

Freeman said he was pleased Ford got the win in his homecoming. "I'm so happy for coach Ford," Freeman said.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage including a frequently updated UMass sports blog, go to www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/umsports.

OUISVILLE, Ky. - Heading into Wednesday night's game against Louisville, the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team had gotten very little out of its bench in big games.

Other than a great effort by Gary Forbes, who usually is a starter, in the 79-66 come-from-behind win over Central Connecticut Saturday, the nonstarters' contributions were mostly negligible.

But in Wednesday's 72-68 win over the Cardinals, the Minuteman bench players not only helped carry them through some early foul trouble, but made key plays down the stretch to sew up the win.

Sophomore Chris Lowe, who has struggled coming off the bench after starting last year, was the Minutemen's point guard at crunch time. He had eight points and three assists in 26 minutes.

Etienne Brower, who was hobbled by an ankle injury for most of the season, gave the Minutemen a lift with eight points in 14 minutes.

"Our bench was tremendous," Rashaun Freeman said. "Now that we have Etienne back we're a lot more dangerous than we were before. It's a good sign."

Freshman guard Ricky Harris added eight points as well.

"We've not be getting anything from our bench, not much at all," UMass coach Travis Ford said. "Etienne Brower gave us great minutes. Ricky Harris came in as a freshman and gave us good minutes making some threes ... We needed our bench or we couldn't survive. We got in foul trouble in the first half when Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme got into foul trouble. Usually when they get into foul trouble. You can warm up the bus."

MVP - Freeman, who had 21 points including 14 in the second half, was named the MVP of the Billy Minardi Classic. This was the first time the Cardinals have lost the game named for Rick Pitino's brother-in-law, who died in terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

PITINO VS. PROTEGES -- Wednesday's game was part of a three-game stretch that Louisville coach Pitino plays against a former player or assistant coach. The Cardinals Sunday played Bellarmine, which is coached by former assistant Scott Davenport. Louisville faces Kentucky and another former assistant, Tubby Smith, Saturday.

Pitino is now 23-4 against his proteges.

Ford is one of three former Pitino players currently coaching. Billy Donovan, who played for Pitino at Providence, leads defending national champion Florida, while John Pelphrey, an ex-Kentucky Wildcat, is at South Alabama.

NEXT UP - After eight days off for finals, the Minutemen return to the Bluegrass State to play Kentucky at 7 p.m. Dec. 22. The Wildcats are 6-3. All three of their losses came against ranked teams. Kentucky faces Louisville (Saturday) and Santa Clara Tuesday before UMass visits.

TIKI TECH - Freshman point guard Tiki Mayben was whistled for UMass' first technical of the season for taunting fellow New York freshman point guard Edgar Sosa.

MISCELLANEOUS - Due to foul trouble, Forbes played point, wing and inside in the first half. Brower spent time at center as well.

Brower said the Minutemen were looking forward to watching the football team in Friday's national championship game.

"It's been a great year for UMass sports. Hopefully we can be a top team like the football team has been. We're so proud of those guys," Brower said. "I hope they win. We're all going to watch it."

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage including a frequently updated UMass sports blog, go to www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/umsports.